U.S. Pat. No. 3,806,467, issued Apr. 23, 1974 to Watanabe et al. generally discloses the use of alcohols as solvents for epoxidation when hydrogen peroxide is used as a reactant. Particularly disclosed are straight-chain alcohols, polyhydric alcohols and cyclic alcohols as preferred solvents.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,165, issued May 17, 1977 to Shryne et al. discloses the use of certain secondary fluorinated alcoholic solvents, such as for example, hexafluoro and perfluoromethyl perfluoroethyl carbinol, as solvents for the epoxidation of olefins using hydrogen peroxide.
The epoxides made by the instant process may be utilized in the production of certain polymers such as polyoxyethylene and polyoxypropylene or as resins forming monomers such as epichlorohydrin.